Or at least, parts of the jungle near Half Moon Bay Hold were on fire.

The weyr was alerted one winter day during the drought that a farming plot housing two families had tried to burn some old, dried brush and make more room for their crops in the spring by removing some of the encroaching forest. With a stiff wind blowing towards the Hold off the sea, the fire quickly went out of control in the dry conditions, burning most of the ground cover, the underbrush, and destroying one barn with all the animals within before spreading to the house. It was consumed as well, and the second barn caught the worst of the fire before help arrived.

First on the scene was the Weyrhealer, T'burk, as well as bluerider G'len from Archipelago Wing. While T'burk helped the Journeywoman Healer of the Hold tend to the wounded, G'len and his blue, and T'burk's green Vinteth, struggled to release the animals in the burning barn before it collapsed around them. As they did so, with help from the Hold's Beastcrafter population, the weyr's dragons began to arrive with makeshift troughs and water holders of substantial size to stem the fire's progress towards the Hold itself. The wounded were bundled up and removed to Western itself for recuperation.

After hours of fighting, the fire finally smouldered. Ground crews turned up earth and made sure every inch of it wasn't about to spark up again. The wounded totaled four with smoke inhalation (and G'len was checked out for it as well for his part in the rescue operation), and three with non-lethal burns most likely received while attempting to rescue the doomed beasts in the first barn. All are expected to recover and return to their Hold nearby in a few days, complete with a promise to help rebuild their barns - provided they keep from the slash-and-burn techniques.